Hi, so I just completed my fafsa for 2020-2021 and apparently my efc is 56000! My family agi is about 77K and they have about 24K in college savings for the whole four years, am I correct in thinking this is extremely high? Let me know if you need any other info.
Continuing the discussion from EFC Wayyy too high?:
Have you done a search on this forum for other similar questions?
One thing to check is if a retirement plan rollover occurred in 2019 and if you used DRT. If so, there’s a small box to be checked when completing the FAFSA so it is not doubly counted. As you have already submitted, the fix is to call the financial aid office at your schools as they are the ones who can update this.
If this is not the issue, then double check each line for accuracy. I’m sure you will get more responses - good luck with your college journey!
Yes…ask your parents if they did a retirement rollover in 2019. If they did, and this wasn’t indicated on the fafsa, then this will be consdered income. If you used the DRT then this could be the issue.
Once your FAFSA has processed, print it out and check every number YOU entered. Are they accurate? Did you include parent income and assets only in the parent fields? Are there any misplaced decimal points or added zeros? These are common mistakes.
edit: We realized we shouldn’t have included IRAs on the investment section, so we removed those and submitted again however it’s now 37000 which is still pretty high. We checked all the information and it’s correct to the best of our knowledge. And we did not have any rollovers. Thanks to those who did respond but I’m not sure what else to do, there’s no way we can afford 37000 a year.
Also I don’t think this will make a much of a difference but I thought I should mention it is for 2021-2022 NOT 2020-2021.
I have, and yes we didn’t have any rollovers. Thank you though and I will continue checking.
How is the $24k in college savings being held, and who is the legal owner?
What other assets are being reported on FAFSA, for both the student and the parent(s)?
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It’s in a 529 and my parents own it. No other major assets other than a money market with some money we made from selling our house, buts it’s still unrealistically high. Everything else is just money in mine and their savings and checking accounts which are a few thousand dollars and a few hundred respectively.
Given what you have told us, you may have put something on the wrong line. Check the amount you put for assets, both student and parent. Another thought: You said that your parents have “some” money from selling a house. It would have to be more than a little to push the EFC up that high, but a little might mean something different to you than to me. Make sure you didn’t put parent assets into student assets. Is the 529 listed under parent assets (it should be)?
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I don’t remember exactly how much it was so I can check on that. However we triple checked and I know that we didn’t put any of their assets into my assets and that the 529 was listed under their name.
It does seem unexpectedly high based on the situation you’ve stated.
It also comes in high for everyone - my family has bad scenario of kids 4 years apart - so they will not overlap in college (assuming graduation in 4 years) so no mutli-kid discount – but paying for multiple years. The EFC is an achievable, but painful amount - can make it but retirement savings would suffer - which may be okay for 4 years - but for 8 (or 12) it’s a large lift.
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